Something From Nothing and a little bit of Everything!

"Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."William Morris,Hopes and Fears for Art (1882)

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Stairs Uplift

So these were my stairs....we have a "raised bungalow" house. Which really means that when you come into our front door of our house you are greeted with some stairs going up and some going down. Which would be fine but we had this ugly blue carpet which is stinky and dirty. Enough said the carpet has to go!

The only problem was is we didn't really know what was underneath. We were praying for hardwood but in a 15ish year old house like ours it was very doubtful.

Moment of truth what is it going to be? Thank God I have my coffee to get me through this one!

So it could have been a lot worse. We have this wood which was stamped grade D, which is not a fail! We went back and forth on what we were going to do, we finally decided to TRY and stain this not so pretty wood and see what it looks like. But first thing all the carpet, staples, glue, and nails has to go.

So once the stairs were clean they don't look all that bad. We had to sand it a lot, used 60 grit all the way to 120. Then we cleaned it up really well by vacuuming all the dirt and dust away.

NOW the moment of truth, will the stain work? The answer is YES! This is our first coat of stain on the stairs. The reason we did the stain first is because it ends up getting everywhere! No matter how hard you try you get speckles all over the place. So a good thing to remember is messiest painting first.

This was the stain we choose which matched our other floor in our house very well.

This is what the stair looked like after just one coat of stain and about two coats of a clear protective layer.

So we painted all the risers and the sides white, this is just the prime and our first coat. The most important thing I can tell you is take your time and tape off really well. If you rush this job you will no doubt regret it once it dries and you pull the tape off. For best results use a hair dryer to warm the tape while you pull it off. It's kind of hard to believe that what was under our stairs could turn into this! It looks amazing already!

So this is the paint we decided to use on the back or risers of the stairs due to the fact that it is super durable and will hopefully hold up well to all the wear and tear these stairs will be put through.

And this is it ladies and gentlemen. It took us 1 1/2 days to finish from top to bottom. We are more than happy and it not only looks good but the house feels cleaner without the carpet :)

So the grand total of this project was $84.97! I cant beleive it myself! Best money I have spent in a long time!

No comments:

Post a Comment

About Us

Something from Nothing and a little bit of Everything is the result of Aunt and Niece's love of thrifty decorating, crafting and entertaining.
Laura~ Growing up on a farm my whole life, I have inherited the "junk gene". I have a knack for finding dusty old forgotten things and turning them into something new and creative.
Lianne~ I have always said that the older and more beat up a piece is, the more I like it!
Stop by often to see what we are up to~ baking, crafting, and turning junk into treasure.